Input wanted on political prisoners

THE Robben Island Museum has invited anyone who may have valuable information on ex-political prisoners (EPPs) to share this and help maintain a “digital memorialisation” of those who were imprisoned on the island.

The museum has appealed to the public to submit the information to their Heritage and Research Department.

The museum said it had an important responsibility to uphold the historic data and information on ex-political prisoners who had fought for South Africa’s freedom during the apartheid era.

The compilation of the Museum’s Ex-Political Prisoner Database (EPPD) began in 1999.

The database is intended to have an updated list of names and biographical details of all Robben Island EPPs and an accompanying image of each of them.

The EPPD serves as a digital memorial of the life of the EPPs on Robben Island.

Museum researcher Christopher Solomons said: “The purpose of the collection is to inform the narrative and memorialisation of the multiple layers of history which is attributed to Robben Island.

“The EPP Database Project is therefore intended to be a culmination of extensive research into different aspects of the political imprisonment landscape, which includes the complete name list of all political prisoners who were imprisoned at Robben Island and their current contact information.”

Silindokuhle Dlamini, of the museum, said there had only been a few cases of the public bringing information to the museum in recent years.

“The museum has been working with EPPs, with some having visited the island. Through the visits, a lot of information was captured on to our system, but the information is outdated.

“We want to update that information,” she said.

The public is asked to submit the information to: Dlamini (021 409 5173) Nolubabalo Tongo-Cetywayo (021 409 5162) or Christopher Solomons (021 409 5108).

Information can also be sent by fax (021 411 1944) or else by e-mail: research@ robben-island.org.za